What odd thing should people know about you?

Everyone has something odd about them that others would be interested or amused to know. Even with all we put out on Facebook and Twitter, we all still have something that will surprise people.

I have a few things, and a few more I won't talk about. For instance, I have a scar on my shoulder because my doctor didn't think my first smallpox vaccination took, so he shot me up with another dose of the deadly virus.

But that is not my favorite Barnes trivia.

I have a friend whose claim to fame was the ability to put her whole fist in her mouth. Many people can touch their noses with their tongues, a few have buildings named after them and some have eating skills that are not charming no matter what company you are in.

I have interviewed people who hold records for the largest species of fish or are in some hall of fame or other, and some who will surprise you by saying they were boxers before they settled into whatever normal everyday profession they have. The late Rosy St. Jean, longtime Gardner City Council president, was a boxer as a young man. The late Herve LeBlanc, a police officer in Gardner for many years, was also a boxer and served on the USS Missouri at the time of the Japanese surrender on that battleship.

I know men who were cheerleaders, women who are truck drivers and people who have won the lottery. I used to stand on my head and watch television for hours. Amazingly, I don't have a bald spot on the top of my head.

That is probably not the most interesting thing about me, either.

These days many people have autographs or photos taken with the rich and famous, but I know a few who were friends with people who were famous and an even smaller number who were truly famous. Gardner's Mark Gearan probably has the best list of personal trivia, including serving as head of the Peace Corps, press deputy chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, the White House director of communications and assistant to the president. While in the Clinton administration, he helped ensure Justice Stephen Breyer was approved for the Supreme Court.

Before President Clinton was elected, Mark served the Clinton campaign in many roles. Prior to that he was involved on many levels in former Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis' run for president. Today he is head of the New York Gaming Commission and president of Hobart and Williams College.

Not bad, but my favorite trivia about him is that he was a church organist.

Other odd things about me include that I used to work for a well-drilling company, delivered pizzas the night I could have worked security at a Grateful Dead concert, and used to have hair down to my shoulders.

But I don't see those as the most interesting things about me. Also, I come from a pretty ordinary family, although if you do enough digging, you will find I am related to Thorfinn Hausakljufer Einarsson, the 7th Earl of Orkney, best known as the Skull Splitter. The bonus is there is a beer named after him.

But that is not the best thing about me. Neither is that I was once honorary ringmaster at the Cole Bros. Circus. I got a whistle and a ride on an elephant, but still not my favorite.

The concept for this column occurred to me when I submitted a story about cemetery vandalism in Templeton. Web editor Mike Elfland asked me, jokingly, if I was still a cemetery commissioner. It would have been a conflict in covering the story. I reminded him I resigned from the post when I was hired by the Telegram & Gazette. I was allowed to remain a public official when I worked at the Sentinel & Enterprise and was appointed to the post as a Gardner News reporter.

I told Mike that although I was never paid in 17 years as a commissioner, there is a road named after me in a cemetery. I think that is pretty cool.

Contact George Barnes at george.barnes@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @georgebarnesTG.